Chinese Workers on the Move

Chinese workers are on the move, hundreds of millions of them. The recent Honda strike, the suicides at Foxconn, thousands of protests around the country are evidence of what is to come. Business Week reports on the the New Labor Art Troupe and its performances in Beijing, "An evening of radical politics" writes BW. (1)

The Chinese bureaucracy has its hands full as the rapid capitalist development of a huge country like China with its millions of people is accompanied by the development of its working class.  Somebody once wrote about this process I think, and the Chinese have some history of revolution.  The inevitable increase in communication and networking that comes with capitalist development is making it easier for Chinese workers to connect nationally as well as to the outside world.  There are 787 million mobile phone users and 348 million internet users in China. Workers are also informing themselves about their rights and Labor laws.  "The days of cheap Labor are gone" says an American bourgeois, Harley Seyedin, president of the US Chamber of Commerce in China.

Many Chinese academics are also involved.  "From the Foxconn tragedy, we hear screams coming from the lives of a new generation of migrant workers, warning the entire society to re-think this development model leveraged upon the sacrifice of people's dignity." said an open letter signed by nine sociologists.

The US Chamber of Commerce back home found that it could not use the word "capitalism" in its campaign to boost the image of the free market.  In China they will have to deal with it as it comes from the  mouths of workers.  "Many capitalists and factory managers still abuse our rights.  If all the workers knew the Labor law---all 600 million of us--then many factory owners would go bankrupt" says one activist.

The Honda transmission strike that just ended gives an example of the defiance and level of class consciousness of the Chinese workers.  In a statement issued by the strikers they say, "We call all workers to maintain a high degree of unity and not allow the capitalist to divide us.  We are not simply struggling for the rights of 1800 workers but for the rights of workers across the whole country."

The Chinese bureaucracy will not be able to put this genie back in the bottle.  They will have lots of help, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Catholic and other church groups, and most pernicious of all, representatives of the US Labor bureaucracy it's left wing primarily, who will flock to the country, a new trend in activism for  them to suppress;  the AFL-CIO, as it always has done, will spend its members dues money in an effort to ensure the workers' movement in China stays within the laws of the market-----the quotes above are dangerous and not the language of the Team Concept.

A New Labor Movement in China: BW 6-14-10